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Article published In:
Democracy and Discriminatory Strategies in Parliamentary Discourse
Edited by Karin Bischof and Cornelia Ilie
[Journal of Language and Politics 17:5] 2018
► pp. 617–635

Put your “big girl” voice on

Parliamentary heckling against female MPs

 | Institute of Applied Linguistics, European Academy Bolzano
Heckles are an illegitimate, yet common way of commenting directly and immediately on what is being said at the lectern. However, (non-)verbal interjections can also be used to disconcert the speaker, thus scoring points within the parliamentary arena. In these cases, female delegates are often confronted with discriminatory remarks and comments that border on sexism and even misogyny. Based on the extensive literature on gender and discourse, the following paper will focus on gender-related heckles and analyse argumentative structures and topoi that are grounded in sexist stereotypes and conservative role-models. Presuming that these incidents are not isolated instances, the paper will compare and contrast several examples from around the world that have caught public attention.
Keywords: gender, politics, parliamentary discourse, argumentation, gender stereotypes
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Parliamentary communities of practice
  • 3.Analysing parliamentary heckling and gender
  • 4.Heckling women as public speakers
    • 4.1Into the lion’s den: Heckles focussing on personality traits
    • 4.2Feminine wiles: Heckles focussing on physical characteristics
    • 4.3Clucking hens: Heckles focussing on role behaviour
    • 4.4Wife and mother: Heckles focussing on occupation
  • 5.Conclusions
  • References
Published online: 9 August 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.18014.sto
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